Italy earthquake death toll rises to 287

L'AQUILA, Italy (AP) -- This quake ravaged medieval city took a
limping step toward normalcy Thursday as butchers, bakers and other
shopkeepers reopened for business and firefighters began entering
buildings to grab essential items for the homeless.

Three days after the quake the made the historic center
uninhabitable and halted nearly all economic activity, the death
toll reached 287, civil protection authorities said Thursday
night.

Police said the victims including 20 children and teens.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi said the government also had increased
the sum allocated for emergency aid to euro100 million ($133
million), and that reconstruction would cost several billion
euros.

On yet another day punctuated by aftershocks, a particularly
sharply felt tremor rocked the quake-stricken area at 9:38 p.m.

The shaking lasted a minute and was felt in Rome some 70 miles
away from L'Aquila.

Italy's National Geophysics Institute said the aftershock
registered 4.9 on the Richter-scale.

The strong aftershocks rattled residents -- nearly 18,000 of
whom are living in tent camps around the stricken region.

An additional 10,000 have been put up in seaside hotels, out of
the quake zone, and the Italian railway provided heated sleeping
cars at L'Aquila's main train station, where nearly 700 people
spent the night.

"It's not much, but without this I would be on the street," said
Elena Ruggeri as she showed off the small train compartment with
bunk beds she shares with three other people.

New activity was evident across the city, as pharmacies, grocery
stores, butchers and hardware stores began operating, three days
after the 6.3-magnitude quake toppled entire blocks of buildings
and halted nearly all economic activity.

Antonio Nardecchia opened up his family's meat stall selling
roasted chicken and sausages just outside the crumbled walls of
L'Aquila's historic center.

The 32-year-old said business was slow.

"We opened up today to try to sell some meat before it spoils,"
Nardecchia said. "I don't see much of a future. It is not like
everything is going to start again tomorrow."

A bakery in a one-story cement-block building was a testament to
survival amid semicollapsed houses.

Inside, Evelina Cruciani, 59, made sandwiches with thick slices
of freshly baked bread, ham and mozzarella cheese, and gave them to
hungry aid workers or sold them to others less in need for euro3
($4) a piece.

She also sold a seasonal specialty, small loaves of sweet bread
traditionally eaten on Easter Sunday with salami.

"We need to keep tradition alive," Cruciani said resolutely.
"L'Aquila must not die."

Not everyone was able to escape the predawn temblor with their
wallets, meaning some in the tent cities needed to rely on aid
until they could get access to their belongings or bank
accounts.

Mobile post offices, which also have banking services, have been
set up in every tent city to provide a means for the displaced
victims to access their own accounts, pick up their pensions or
receive money, especially from relatives who have emigrated abroad.
People can also top off their cell phones.

The mayor of L'Aquila signed an ordinance declaring public and
privately owned buildings unfit for habitation -- a formality
needed for teams to begin assessing the damage, news agencies
reported.

While residents have been told not to return to their homes,
firefighters who had been digging through the rubble for survivors
began entering wrecked buildings Thursday to retrieve essential
items like medicine for residents.

"We can't always go in, we only go in if we have an escape
route," in case an aftershock hits, said squad leader Giovanni De
Carolis.

The family was safely in nearby Teramo at the time of the quake,
but 25-year-old Michele had a place in L'Aquila, where he studies
engineering and is about to graduate.

"It was the most important object for him" Rastelli said. "It
has all his data inside."

Anti-looting patrols have increased in the quake zone; some
residents stayed in cars near their homes to keep watch all the
same.

Berlusconi on Wednesday said stiffer anti-looting measures would
be introduced amid reports the problem was on the rise.

In Rome, police arrested a man posing as a civil protection
worker who was collecting donations for quake relief, the ANSA news
agency said.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano toured the quake area
Thursday. He stopped at the collapsed student dorm in L'Aquila,
visited the nearly leveled small town of Onna, and met with some of
the homeless at tent camps.

At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated a Holy Thursday
Mass that included the traditional blessing of holy oils -- some of
which the church will send to the earthquake zone as a sign of
closeness to the stricken population.

Benedict was sending his personal secretary, Monsignor Georg
Gaenswein, as well as the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,
to preside over Friday's funeral services for the victims.